Store In Columbia

County police are investigating the holdup of a convenience store in the Thunder Hill neighborhood of Columbia's Oakland Mills Village by a masked man who implied he had a weapon inside a paper bag.Sgt. Morris Carroll, a police spokesman, said the man entered the Thunder-Mart in the 5100 block of Thunder Hill Road about 8: 15 p.m. Thursday and ordered the clerk to open the register and get down on the floor.The man fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash, Carroll said.The robber, described as 5 feet 11, 150 pounds and about 35 years old, was wearing a dark ski mask, a black fleece jacket with red trim, black jeans and a dark glove on his right hand.

Nearly four months after two employees were shot and killed, the skate apparel and accessory shop Zumiez reopened on Monday in The Mall in Columbia. The store has been closed since Jan. 25, the day Darion Aguilar, 19, gunned down two store employees at the store, Brianna Benlolo and Tyler Johnson. Police said he then turned the gun on himself. "After consulting with our employees and the victims' families, we decided to completely remodel and reopen the store," Zumiez officials said in a statement.

Uptons, a clothing chain based in Atlanta, is planning to move into the Baltimore area next spring by opening a store in the Dobbin Center in Columbia, the company said yesterday.Uptons, which operates 28 stores in the Southeast, sells discount to upper-moderate-priced clothing. It is a subsidiary of New York-based Amcena Corp.The Columbia store would replace a Hechinger that occupies the 60,000-square-foot anchor spot at the Dobbin Center. The Hechinger store is moving to larger quarters at Snowden Square, also in Columbia, and upgrading to its new Home Projects Center format.

Microsoft plans to open a "pop-up" store in time for holiday shopping this fall at The Mall in Columbia. The store will be one of about 30 temporary holiday locations Microsoft plans to open this year in the U.S. and Canada, a move to complement nearly two dozen permanent stores. Maryland at this point has no Microsoft stores. Microsoft is offering few details about the temporary stores, but promises hands-on experience with Microsoft products. The idea for the pop-up stores was first announced earlier this year by Microsoft COO Kevin Turner, during the Worldwide Partner Conference.

A young man who hinted he had a concealed weapon robbed the Dobbin Center Mobil gas station and convenience store in Columbia just after 10 p.m. Friday night.Howard County police said the man waited around the store for 30 minutes before confronting the clerk, demanding money and implying he had a weapon.The clerk opened the cash register and gave the robber an undetermined amount of money. The man then fled.Police described the suspect as a 6-foot-tall black man in his 20s with a light complexion, wearing a red T-shirt and blue denim shorts.

Another local retailer that grew up in the fast-paced '80s is feeling the pinch of adult life in today's sluggish economy filled with countless competitors.G.Briggs, the classic men's and women's clothing chain based in Linthicum, said yesterday that it will scale back to suit the new times.The retailer will close the two smallest stores in its four-store chain -- one in Baltimore and the other in the Columbia mall -- in an effort to trim expenses and protect market share, said Skip Briggs, the company president.

Bike ride endsAfter nine years, the Great Columbia Bike Ride is ending because the 7-mile route has become too congested, organizers say.Organizers say traffic along the route, which includes parts of Snowden River Parkway, Robert Fulton Drive and Columbia Gateway Drive, could be dangerous for bikers.The event, sponsored by Princeton Sports & Travel and Piccolo's Restaurant, raised more than $40,000 for such organizations as Columbia Festival of the Arts, Voices for Children and Howard County General Hospital.

Crab-flavored potato chips and kosher foods may not have much in common, gastronomically speaking. But in the frenzied world of warehouse-style retailing, the two items are inextricably linked, at least in the Baltimore-area market.You'll find both in bulk at the 116,000-square-foot BJ's Wholesale Club store in Columbia, which opened June 27."It's called knowing your market," says Herbert J. Zarkin, chief executive officer for Waban Inc., the Natick, Mass.-based company which owns BJ's.Before selecting what to stock in the massive 6,000-item inventory of the new store, the members-only chain studied in detail the demographics and taste nuances of area residents.

You can count each summer on the roses budding, the pools opening and, in the Columbia village of Hickory Ridge, the local Wawa becoming a night-time hangout for youths.In past years, the problems at the convenience store were mostly of the nuisance variety: an occasional fight, some shoplifting, an elderly person would feel menaced by the boisterous youths who congregate there. But the incidents tended not to be too serious. Cooler weather would arrive and the young crowds would disappear.

Marshalls Inc., the national off-price retailer of apparel and house goods, says it will open a store in Columbia early next month.The Andover, Mass., retailer, which has 12 stores in Maryland, joins a growing parade of national discounters that either have opened stores or plan to do so in the Columbia-Ellicott City area. Recent competitors moving into the area include wholesalers such as BJ's Wholesale Club, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s Sams Club and Upton's, a discount apparel chain.The 36,000-square-foot Marshalls will open the week of Oct. 3 in Columbia's Snowden Square shopping center, a new retail site developed by the Rouse Company.

Decadent desserts gleam from behind counters encased in wood and metal: chocolate mousse cake covered in chocolate shavings, tarts with marshmallows on top, coconut tiramisu. Across the aisle two employees pinch ginger from huge piles and place it on sushi plates. Another worker hands a slice of homemade pizza to an area worker in early to beat the lunch crowd. It's a typical morning at the Harris Teeter supermarket in Arlington, Va. It's also a glimpse at what Baltimore area shoppers can expect as the Charlotte, N.C., grocer enters the local market, with its first store opening in Columbia's Kings Contrivance Village Center May 20. It will open a store in South Baltimore in 2010.

In an effort to capitalize on what it sees as a void in the market, luggage-maker Samsonite has launched a new line of retail stores that carry high-end suitcases, business cases and travel accessories at The Mall in Columbia. Managers hope the Point A concept store that opened Thursday - 1,800 square feet on the upper level just outside of Hecht's - will grow into a national chain and edge the company further into the high-end market. In addition to Samsonite-brand products, the stores will carry name brands such as Andiamo, Hugo Bosca, Kenneth Cole, Travel Pro and Zero Haliburton.

Ordinary shoppers take grocery lists and coupons to the supermarket. In Columbia, they take talking points. In a community where local boards decide who can have a basketball hoop or lawn ornament, grocers get cartloads of unsolicited advice from customers and local officials, who believe the stores define their village - and their property values. Oakland Mills village officials prepared a two-page list of "Talking Points" for a meeting last year with Metro Food Market managers. "Crackers," the points note, "are still not on the [store directory]

It's not exactly a hardware store, and it's not exactly a furniture store, and it's not exactly -- well, how would you describe a store that offers aluminum dustpans, cast-iron bin pulls, flashlights, garden tools, Jenny Lind spool beds, leather furniture, and dozens of styles of house numbers and drawer knobs? Even though it has "hardware" in its name, Restoration Hardware Inc. is more of a lifestyle store, where good taste, nostalgia and whimsy mingle freely.But you can figure out for yourself what it is when the company opens its newest store in Columbia.

A young man who hinted he had a concealed weapon robbed the Dobbin Center Mobil gas station and convenience store in Columbia just after 10 p.m. Friday night.Howard County police said the man waited around the store for 30 minutes before confronting the clerk, demanding money and implying he had a weapon.The clerk opened the cash register and gave the robber an undetermined amount of money. The man then fled.Police described the suspect as a 6-foot-tall black man in his 20s with a light complexion, wearing a red T-shirt and blue denim shorts.

County police are investigating the holdup of a convenience store in the Thunder Hill neighborhood of Columbia's Oakland Mills Village by a masked man who implied he had a weapon inside a paper bag.Sgt. Morris Carroll, a police spokesman, said the man entered the Thunder-Mart in the 5100 block of Thunder Hill Road about 8: 15 p.m. Thursday and ordered the clerk to open the register and get down on the floor.The man fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash, Carroll said.The robber, described as 5 feet 11, 150 pounds and about 35 years old, was wearing a dark ski mask, a black fleece jacket with red trim, black jeans and a dark glove on his right hand.

It's not exactly a hardware store, and it's not exactly a furniture store, and it's not exactly -- well, how would you describe a store that offers aluminum dustpans, cast-iron bin pulls, flashlights, garden tools, Jenny Lind spool beds, leather furniture, and dozens of styles of house numbers and drawer knobs? Even though it has "hardware" in its name, Restoration Hardware Inc. is more of a lifestyle store, where good taste, nostalgia and whimsy mingle freely.But you can figure out for yourself what it is when the company opens its newest store in Columbia.

Giant Food in Dorsey's Search was robbed Sunday night at gunpoint by a man who returned after making a purchase, Howard County police said.Police said a customer entered the supermarket on Dorsey Hall Drive shortly before 11 p.m. and bought several items, including duct tape.Five minutes after leaving, he returned, telling employees he left something behind. He then produced a semiautomatic handgun and the duct tape he had purchased."He told the male employee to duct-tape the two female employees," said Sgt. Morris Carroll, Howard County police spokesman.

Metro Food Market opened its newest supermarkets yesterday in Columbia and Westminster as part of an expansion that will add five to 10 stores to the region next year.The Baltimore-based chain of 18 supermarkets extended its reach into Howard County, opening as Oakland Mills Village Center's first major tenant since the Rouse Co. completed a $4 million renovation of the 30-year-old center. The 40,000-square-foot store features a gourmet coffee bar with indoor and outdoor seating, a made-to-order sushi bar and a hot food and soup bar.The other store opened in the 140 Village Shopping Center in Westminster, after Metro converted it from a Martin's supermarket.